Childhood is a precious time filled with imagination and wonder. It’s also a time where many agree technology should be limited, which is why the latest Messenger Kids app offered through Facebook has some pediatric and mental health experts concerned. In fact, these experts are so concerned about the potentially damaging effects of the Facebook app that they’re “calling on Facebook to kill the messaging service…that was introduced last month for children as young as 6.” What has these experts so concerned, though?
Childhood is a precious time filled with imagination and wonder. It’s also a time where many agree technology should be limited, which is why the latest Messenger Kids app offered through Facebook has some pediatric and mental health experts concerned. In fact, these experts are so concerned about the potentially damaging effects of the Facebook app that they’re “calling on Facebook to kill the messaging service…that was introduced last month for children as young as 6.” What has these experts so concerned, though?
In their letter to Facebook, the mental health and pediatric experts allege that the “service, Messenger Kids, which pushes the company’s user base well below its previous minimum age of 13, preys on a vulnerable group developmentally unprepared to be on the social network.”
The group of experts belongs to the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, an advocacy group that has “successfully pushed companies to abandon marketing like a Pokemon Go app that sent children to fast food and other stores, and McDonald’s advertising on the envelopes of report cards in Florida.” According to the group’s letter, Messenger Kids “opens even greater concerns” and should have every parent on alert. It went on to say:
“Younger children are simply not ready to have social media accounts. A growing body of research demonstrates that excessive use of digital devices and social media is harmful to children and teens, making it very likely this new app will undermine children’s healthy development.”
But what is Messenger Kids? Well, for those who don’t know, the app is a “texting-type service that a parent sets up for a child. The parent uses his or her own Facebook account for the child, but the app is otherwise not a part of the main Facebook service.” It differs from a traditional Facebook account in that it “doesn’t have News Feed or a ‘like’ button, which some mental health experts have linked to anxiety among teenagers on social media.” Despite not having these features, the app does come equipped with other elements associated with Facebook, including “emojis, selfies, video chat and group texting.”
This recent opposition to Messenger Kids “adds to growing societal concerns over digital media and devices,” and even recent studies are finding links between smartphone and social media use to “greater happiness among teenagers.”
That’s all well and good, but how is Facebook responding to the concerns detailed out in the letter from the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood? So far the company has said the app “provides a safer environment for children than many online experiences,” and added that “it had consulted with the National PTA and several academics and families before introducing the app.” In a statement regarding the matter, the company said:
“Messenger Kids is a messaging app that helps parents and children to chat in a safer way, with parents always in control of their child’s contacts and interactions.”
The company’s statements have so far done little to quell the concerns of many health advocates who claim the “app is still engineered to hook users, and that it is giving Facebook early access to its next generation of users.”
Join the conversation!